Post an online holiday message to the troops

Published 6:30 am, Thursday, November 29, 2001

The Department of Defense today unveiled an online alternative to two popular holiday military mail operations shut down indefinitely by anthrax attacks.

"Operation Dear Abby" was founded by newspaper advice columnist Abigail Van Buren in 1967, after a 19-year-old soldier wrote her to request that anyone with an extra stamp write a letter addressed to "Any Lonely Soldier." In the 17 years since that plea was printed, hundreds of thousands of letters and packages have been distributed to service members.

A similar "Any Servicemember" program began during Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and was expanded in 1995 to include military operations in Bosnia.

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Both programs were shut down in the wake of recent anthrax mail attacks, and Maj. Jim Cassella of the Department of Defense's media office said no mail addressed to unknown service members will be delivered until further notice.

In response, the Navy has developed a Web-based alternative for all branches of the military. At http://AnyServiceMember.Navy.mil, a simple process allows messages of support or holiday greetings to be posted online for viewing by service members in any branch of the military.

Service members may then visit the Web site and choose messages for their branch of the service and home state.

Those who wish to receive a reply may include their e-mail addresses. Since all messages will be viewed on the Web, Cassella said the military's regular e-mail service will not be affected by the volume of messages posted for service members.

Letters and packages addressed to specific service members are being handled as usual, Cassella said, and many military families plan their holiday mailings to benefit more than just their loved ones.

Meg Weiss of Spring said when she she sends boxes of candy and baked goods to her great-nephew who is stationed in Japan, "I send way more than he could ever eat, so he can share the treats with all his friends who want some."

Weiss said she has taken part in Operation Dear Abby in past years but agrees, "I wouldn't want to send food, or even a letter I guess, to anyone I didn't know right now."

"They'll just have to decide this year whether they want to risk my oatmeal-raisin cookies or not," Weiss joked of her great-nephew's comrades.

Linda Flores of Angleton said when she sends packages to her son in the Marine Corps and daughter in the Navy, she practices the same plan she used when they were in grade school.

"I always sent extras of everything," said Flores. "If the teacher asked everyone to bring in a magazine, I'd give them two or three, in case some child in their class didn't have one to bring.

"I think most parents are very much aware that whatever they have to give their child, even if it's only a little, there's another child who has less."

Flores said this year her holiday packages were laden with "whole boxes of Snickers and Milky Ways, bags of M&Ms," as well as items that could be shared, like books and magazines.

"I think most military parents do that," Flores said. "They know how much it means to their child to get those things, and can't help thinking about other children there with nobody to send them things."